Analysis: The Planet, Jenova, & Genesis after [ ν ] – εуλ 0010
by X-SOLDIER August 26, 2010 0 comments
I’ve put together this article for the launch of our newly re-organized Compilation of Final Fantasy VII forum structure which now includes a Fan Content Section. This is speculation and theorization based on as much data as I can put together from all of the pieces of the Compilation, for the potential of the final events leading to the ending of the the FFVII Compilation, allowing Gaia to finally become the paradise that is seen 497 years after Dirge of Cerberus. This is a fairly in-depth article, spanning 3 pages, so don’t forget to click “Read the rest of this entry.”
Enjoy, and be sure to check out our new sections in the forums!
“…Inside our bodies there’s a current, like the Lifestream. That current is what fights off any malevolent intruders.”
Each living being’s sprit/will is composed of Spiritual Energy that returns to the current known as the Lifestream upon death. It also appears that the Lifestream forms over time from cellular degradation and decomposition, as each individual cell is technically also living. That explains why there are still bodies left behind when some people die, but others are seen breaking down directly into Lifestream (likely due to accelerated cellular degradation). This Spiritual Energy of the Lifestream is not entirely ethereal, and it maintains some physical presence within the biology. It’s this current that likely also allows them to utilize Materia, as well as protects the Planet and its life forms. The model of a spiritual energy current that exists within each life form and protects them from harm, before returning to the Planet until it brings life to a new being, is a microcosm of the Planet’s role in the Cosmos. Essentially all life is a part of this cycle of spiritual energy.
Gaia refers to the world of Final Fantasy VII. It is the location at which the entity known as “the Planet” currently resides. A “Planet” is a massive entity composed entirely of this Spiritual Energy. These entities travel from world to world throughout the cosmos, bringing life to anywhere they inhabit. These Planets have a built in mechanism that, if certain conditions are met, it gathers all its energies from the life forms on the world, and departs, leaving it as a lifeless husk, and roams the stars for a new planetary shell, much like the spiritual current in the Lifestream finds new life. This means that all Planets (with life forms), are also living beings. The Cetra were able to speak with the Planet, whereas this talent is slowly lost over time to Humans. The life of the Planet is one of the core themes of Final Fantasy VII, with the ShinRa Company not believing in the Lifestream as a part of a living entity, but just harvesting it as a natural resource to generate Mako. It is literally and figuratively the fuel behind the conflict with ShinRa and AVALANCHE. In Advent Children, Rufus (and thereby the remains of ShinRa) slowly changes from referring to “the world” as “the Planet” as he comes to accept the Planet as a living entity, and eventually funding the W.R.O. to restore life on Gaia, and heal the Planet.
As an entity, the Planet never directly receives a name, and is only referred to as “the Planet.” It does manifest an avatar as the embodiment of its will (or the will of the Lifestream), in the form of Minerva, also referred to as the goddess. She is only seen in Crisis Core, and it is the only point at which the Planet is shown to display an avatar of its own will. Sephiroth attempts to use the large surge of Lifestream at the Northern Crater to forcibly take control of the Planet in the final battle of Final Fantasy VII, when he becomes Safer Sephiroth.
It seems that when any entity takes up the mantle of the will of the Lifestream, they physically change to represent this by obtaining 6 white wings. Sephiroth is shown to possess 6 symmetrical wings on his lower body, in addition to his large black Jenova wing. This is almost identical to the wings on the Goddess Status where Minerva appears. Minerva also possesses the 6 wings, though they appear on the wheel-like structure on her back. (Omega Weapon possesses 4 main wings and 2 smaller ones on its head, though this may be due to the fact that it is artificially being triggered prematurely, in addition to the fact that it’s not joined with Chaos, who possesses the other two wings).
“2000 years ago, our ancestors, the Cetra, heard the cries of the Planet. The first ones to discover the Planet’s wound were the Cetra at the Knowlespole. …The Cetra then began a Planet-reading. …it’s like having a conversation with the Planet…”
The encounter with Minerva marks the only time that the Planet directly makes contact with any being on Gaia that is not a Cetra. While Bugenhagen, the people at Cosmo Canyon, and Nanaki’s race all listen to the cries of the Planet, it is never indicated that any of them are directly addressed. The fact that Genesis is the only being to receive this contact, and he possesses the powers of Jenova is something that is incredibly significant.
The below is a paraphrase of the information in the Crisis Core Complete Guide, where the development team talk about Minerva. It is also the only point that Genesis’ motivations after the events of Dirge of Cerberus are hinted at.
“The Planet produced Weapon… But it was no longer necessary to use it.”
“Weapon cannot vanish. …It remains asleep somewhere on the Planet.”
“Even though Jenova is confined, it could come back to life at some time…”
“The Planet has not fully healed itself yet. It is still watching Jenova.”
The Planet’s main form of self-defense are the Weapons. They exist for the sole purpose of eliminating anything the Planet deems as evil. They are created when Jenova first arrives, but once she is sealed into stasis by the Cetra, the Weapons are no longer needed, and enter a state of suspended animation. They continue to exist, because Jenova still exists. In before Crisis, Zirconaide’s summoning triggers the awakening of Jade Weapon. Final Fantasy VII, the rest of them are awakened by Meteor, as it is a trigger to the same events that brought Jenova. They begin attacking the humans, due to the damage that they were causing the Planet through the Mako reactors.
” ‘…Weapon. Monsters created by the Planet. It appears when the Planet is in danger, reducing everything to nothingness.’ That’s what was stated in Professor Gast’s report.”
All of these primary defense Weapons are defeated during [ ν ] – εуλ 0007 – 0008. Jade Weapon is defeated by the Rogue Turks. Sapphire Weapon is destroyed at Junon, when it’s shot in the face by the canon. Diamond Weapon is killed outside of Midgar, when the Sister Ray is fired directly through it. Ruby and Emerald Weapons are assumed to have been defeated by Cloud & Co, as is Ultima Weapon. The Planet no longer seems to be capable of creating new Weapons to replace those that are destroyed. This is likely a combination of the wound at North Crater, in combination with the Mako Reactors weakening it. With Holy not completely stopping Meteor, this means that the Planet’s only defense against is by using the Lifestream itself as a weapon to destroy it.
Doing this leaves the Planet in a weakened state. With the injury from the original impact at North Crater never healing, in addition to the Mako Reactors, and being forced to directly use raw Lifestream as a weapon, the Planet is in a highly weakened state, even with the almost total abandonment of Mako energy by the events of Advent Children. This is likely what allows Sephiroth to spread Geostigma and the Negative Lifestream to attempt to defeat the Planet. After all of this, the plot during Dirge of Cerberus forcing the premature deployment of Omega Weapon, causes it to conflict with Chaos, resulting in its destruction. As a result, all of the Planet’s natural methods of self-defense are exhausted, though luckily Jenova’s capabilities are also significantly reduced. It is this point when Genesis is awakened. To understand the possible reasons behind this, first we need to understand more about Jenova.
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Okay, so after almost TWO years, I still find myself going back to this article as a reference. And since I’m re-writing that old unfinished fanfiction I commented on so long ago (the one with S-Cells being heritable and such), I find myself with another question–however, it might not be as related to the subject at hand, and so I apologize…
In Advent Children, Yazoo and Loz were the last two remnants who could use Jenova’s cells and become Sephiroth after Kadaj’s death, right? If that’s true, and if one of them miraculously survived the explosion, could there in fact be another Reunion? I was a little confused with some of the comments about Genesis and Jenova, so–hypothetically–would there be any cells left for a Reunion with one of them?
Because FFVII fanfictions just aren’t the same without Sephiroth coming back and wreaking more havoc in Cloud’s life, and I’d like to have a legitimate reason for doing so. 😉
Thanks again for this amazing article, and sorry for the annoying questions! ^__^;;
check my comment on page 3
brother is there a connection among the ff vedio games series, i mean from ff1- ff13-2?
if not, then from where the story of genova begins and where does it end with genisis weapon?
This is, uh, lovely and all… (would need time to pick it completely apart, because I’ve seen things I totally disagree with)… but the thing I wanted to point out is the the Planet is not called Gaia, and I want to find the person who started that mess and smack them. It’s the Planet. It is only ever referred to as the Planet in the pieces of canon that actually matter. A couple of minor references and a stupid pamphlet do not canon make. It’s the Planet. End of story.
I just… I wish I could understand. None of this makes any sense at all, whatsoever. It’s too much for me to grasp.
Holy crap. Mind blown. thank you! They have to make a sequel they have to! And it’s so crazy to think that’s what Loveless means. There are so many other interpretations but I really hope this one’s right!
So when talking about the FF X-2 and FF VII connection, it seems like they kinda tried to force it. Cid mentions that they started the space program and he was the first person in space. Doesnt that kinda go against FF X-2 if they got to Gaia by space? I guess since its thousands of years after, maybe Cid and the others have lost all the knowledge of the people of X-2 and didnt know how they got there.
Is that after Jenova/ The Ancients got to Gaia? It would have to be, right, or Rufus would be considered an ancient, right? I have not played FF X or FF X-2. I just cant get into any other FF games cause i cant get into long games after FFvii. Its just so good.
BTW, your whole article was awesome and very well thought out. I wanna play all the games, just not sure if i wanna start with CC or ff7.
Hm, I realize that my comment may be (a little) late, but I’ve just found this site since I wanted to know more about LOVELESS and the various theories relating to it… So, I read this analysis and I must say that this is a very interesting stuff, but I have some questions and observations;
First of all, I would never thought of the poem being related to the whole Compilation — I’ve always interpreted it according to Crisis Core only, so the Prisoner would essentially be Angeal (and consequentially Zack, who inherited Angeal’s will as stated by Genesis just before the Zack vs. Genesis battle occurs), Sephiroth would be the Wanderer (because after his fall in the reactor at Nibelheim, he travels the Lifestream and gains the Ancient’s knowledge) and Genesis would be the Hero (and this is not a contradiction with your theory of Genesis ‘sacrificing’ himself).
The Complete Synthesis to occur is a very believable part of your theory, but how is Genesis supposed to find the needed S-Cells? Assuming some of them are still in the Lifestream, but by cellular level only (and by this, I mean that I believe Sephiroth’s will no longer exists within the Lifestream after the events of ACC), I don’t think it would be a problem for Genesis (after gathering all the cells) to finally destroy Jenova: despite the fact of him being a Jenova Copy, her malevolent “will” shouldn’t be able to take over him; I’ve always thought of Jenova as a being without Will, with only a mere instinct; since her will always coincided with Sephiroth’s one during the events of FFVII (without him, isn’t Jenova a mere mass of cells only driven by the instinct of Reunion?) and – as I said before – Sephiroth’s Will has been extinguished, would a final battle between Genesis and Sephiroth really be necessary?
What do you think of my deductions? I hope I didn’t mess it up, and lemme know if I forgot/misunderstood some important plot points.
Firstly: this is so amazingly brilliant! It’s hard to believe Square planned all this; regardless, you drew it all together perfectly so it makes sense — and would make one killer plot!
Just one question, and it’s a rather minor nitpick. What is the significance of Weiss? (when Genesis picks him up at the end of DoC) Does Weiss have some bigger role to play, or is he merely Genesis’ pawn? Or is he just a minor character who may only have a small role? Since he has G cells it seems likely that he’d be controlled by Genesis’ will. This creates other questions, such as what is the significance of Nero and his Void?
I realize the chances of getting a response are pretty slim, but I thought I’d ask.
Thanks for any input!
This was an absolutely incredible piece. It all makes so much sense. I’ve always been frustrated that the last point in the FF7 timeline we’ve seen is Genesis awakening, and then we’re left in the dark. I’m so satisfied with your work that I’m no longer annoyed 😀
What a fantastic well thought article!! Kudos to you….you just answered alot of questions about the ff7 universe….though it breaks my heart…all the recent talk is about the remake NOT the sequel…its like the sequel we’re rooting for ain’t gonna happen any time soon….most likely, after the remake. I really really wish i’m talking nonsense, and SE would make a sequel in the not so distant future. But….the remake would be really awesome though,